


Catch A Fox With Cunning

by PastelPrinceling



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Babies AU, Hybrid AU, Rabbit!Ray, barn owl!Jack, fox!Ryan, gazelle!Michael, hedgehog!Gavin, hyena!Geoff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2699936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelPrinceling/pseuds/PastelPrinceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You will catch the fox with cunning, and the wolf with courage."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catch A Fox With Cunning

**Author's Note:**

> My own little hybrid AU, there are age differences between the crew. Geoff and Jack are 17, Ryan is 8, and the Lads are all around 5, here at the beginning. It will be an ongoing thing with jumps a jump in age to adults a bit later. I might make it a separate fic in the same series, we'll see.

A shift of leaves down the trail made Ryan take pause, his ear twitching, swiveling towards the sound. He listened closely before he lowered himself a little, bracing himself against one if the trees, creeping closer to the source of the noise. He stayed silent, even going so far as to hold his breath as he got closer. The rustling continued now and then and Ryan peeked over a crop of bushes, pupils wide, hoping to find something tasty.

In the underbrush was a youngling, likely no older than four or five, a rabbit. A little boy with a dark head of hair, curled up on his side in muddy clothing. Long ears twitched now and then, along with the little stub of a tail. Ryan’s shoulders dropped slowly and he huffed, waking the little rabbit.

With wide eyes he looked up at Ryan, his ears pinned back, frozen in place. Predator. Danger. Death. Ray laid stock still in hopes Ryan wouldn’t see his as a good meal.

Ray flinched when fingers brushed his cheek gently, wiping a leaf and a little mud away.

Ryan took no time at all to decide, leaning over, he scooped the rabbit up into his arms. He wasn’t very big himself, he still had a lot of room to grow, but he wasn’t going to let a scrawny twig like this weigh him down. His tail lashed behind him and he settled the boy in his arms, the poor thing shaking like a leaf.

He made soft chittering sounds to try to soothe him as he walked back towards his home.

o0o

“Michael, get down from there!” Jack squawked, his wings spread wide around him as he reached for the boy who’d somehow managed to get himself up into the rafters. He flapped his wings once to get his attention and Michael showed his teeth. All flat and smooth, he still managed to try and look menacing. The prey who thought he was a predator. Of course.

Just a little thing still, Jack rolled his eyes, “Don’t make me come up there and get you.”

Tilting his head down to show Jack his horns, still kind of pathetic in length compared to what they would be eventually, his ears flicked back against his head in a threat display. Standing behind Jack, Geoff couldn’t help but chuckle, breaking into a quiet laugh. 

Gavin put a hand over his mouth quickly, “No giggles!”

Geoff ducked his head, huffing one last laugh, “Sorry sorry, I know the rules.” He held the little hedgehog close, watching the owl attempt to get the gazelle from the rafters. How he kept getting up there was a mystery to all of them.

Geoff pet the edge of the prickles on Gavin’s cheeks and jawline, smiling as he did, the boy on his hip as they watched the two try to duke it out. It was clear though, that Jack was getting irritated.

“Michael, you’re going to gouge up the wood. Get down from there.”

“Maybe that’s what he needs to do, Jack. Don’t they rub their horns on wood and peel bark off and stuff?”

Jack looked from Geoff, his wings still whipping hair and fabric and papers around in their little house now and then. He sighed, letting his shoulder drop, “He might be trying to rub velvet off or something, but I wish he wouldn’t do it _there_. He can go outside and do it.”

“Maybe he wants a private place for it?” Geoff pointed out, trying to help the situation, “None of us are, I don’t know, what’s that fancy term for deer and antelopes and shit?”

“Deer and antelopes are different families. Difference between horns and antlers, I don’t know. I don’t spend a lot of time with herbivores, Geoff.”

Geoff put his free hand up, “Alright, alright, no need to get testy with me. Only trying to figure out why he’s been acting so weird lately.”

The door to their little house opened and there was a beat or two before it closed again. They were in one of the two bedrooms, instead of the front room, and Geoff called, “Ryan?”

“It’s me! I found something!” Ryan called for them, settling Ray down on the couch, the little rabbit still shaking. He pet over his hair, making those soft shushing sounds quietly.

Geoff looked up at Jack who was now climbing up trying to get to Michael and back to the doorway out into the hallway and the living room beyond. He sighed and called, “If it’s another orphan, I swear to God, Ryan.”

Silence.

Ryan couldn’t very well lie to him!

Ray pressed his face into the back of his hands, burying his face into the couch, still shaking a bit, but despite the predator’s looming nature, his soft sounds helped a little.

Geoff set Gavin down and tapped his nose, making the little hedgehog’s spines stick up for a moment with a laugh and a smile. Geoff looked the babe over, “Be foreman for me, yeah?”

“Foreman?” Gavin blinked, watching Jack and Michael and the little tussle they were having.

“Foremen are guys who don’t do any work, but make sure everyone else does, and does it safely. Make sure nobody dies, okay?”

Gavin’s nose wrinkled and he laughed, giving Geoff a thumbs up. He ruffled his hair, feeling some of his softened barbs before he left the room to find Ryan. Of course he was still at the couch, petting over the rabbit’s ear, making soft reassuring sounds for him.

With high brows he looked the two over, “Ryan…” He crouched down to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder where he was kneeling on the floor. “Ryan, we can’t keep another. Gavin and Michael are already enough of a handful. You can’t keep bringing orphans home. If they’re without a parent, a mother to feed them or a father to protect them, they’re going to die. It’s how the world works, Ryan.”

Ryan looked up at him, his fox ears laying flat against his head, “No! This is the last one, I promise. Please Geoff? He’s so scared.”

Ray didn’t look up at them, but he’d be stupid if he didn’t know for sure they were talking about him.

“Ryan, did you find him alone?”

A small nod.

“He was either abandoned, or his mother was going to be coming back for him. I’m sorry, but you can’t just keep kidnapping little wounded prey and bringing them home like this.” Geoff was trying to talk reason into the child, still young, but not as young as the pets he kept bringing home. Some ended up well enough to go out on their own, but Gavin and Michael were still young, and as much as he loathed to admit it, he’d grown fond of the two of them.

Ryan pet Ray’s head gently, brushing scraggly hair out of his face, “Please Geoff, he’s cold and probably hungry. Just this last one?” He looked up at him, eyes sad, “I promise.”

He offered up a pinky, his last ditch effort to try to get Geoff to see how serious he was.

Ray opened an eye to peek up at them, blinking a few times before he hid his face again, though he didn’t shake anymore.

Geoff sighed, taking that pinky with his own, pointing a finger into Ryan’s face, a scolding tone, “This is the last one, or there’ll be Hell to pay. You hear me?”

Ryan gasped, letting out a happy little shriek before he wrapped his arms around Geoff’s neck, nearly taking the man off his feet. Geoff laughed, wrapping his arms around him in return, hugging his little fox close. He sighed, petting between his ears, “Tell me about this little bunny.”

Ray peeked up at them, mumbling, “Rabbit.”

Blinking a few times Geoff leaned in, trying to get a better look at him, “What was that?”

“I’m a rabbit, not a bunny,” he said, his ears perking a little.

With a huff of a laugh, “What’s the difference then?”

“Bunnies are babies. I’m not a baby,” Ray explained, the offended tone obvious in his voice.

“Oh really now? You look like a little one to me.”

Ryan pet over Ray’s back while they talked, letting Geoff get acclimated to him. If they hit it off okay, there was a better chance of Ray staying for longer.

Ray puffed up a little more, pushing himself up a little from where he’d hidden himself against the couch, “Nuh uh!”

Geoff was all giggles tonight, and every night really. He couldn’t help it, hyena’s laughed. He laughed. Laughter made life easier. Geoff ruffled his hair, but grimaced as he felt the mud and dirt and leaved caked in the boy’s hair.

“You need a bath, bunny,” Geoff teased more. “Do you know where your mommy or daddy went?” Part of him hoped his parents might find him. Taking in strays like this, it was hard. It was hard financially, keeping the heat on and every mouth fed and every belly full. It was something Ryan didn’t quite understand yet, but he tried to do well by the fox.

“I-” Ray tried to start but a crash from the back room startled him into hiding again.

Geoff stood up and put a hand up, “Don’t move, I’ll be right back,” before he darted off to investigate the racket.

Ryan’s tail lashed across the floor slowly, his ears flicking at all sounds, inside and out. He hummed quietly, keeping his voice down so he wouldn’t scare the rabbit, “My name is Ryan. What’s yours?”

Peeking up at him over his arm again, Ray looked him over before his nose twitched in that way Ryan had seen animal rabbit’s nose twitch. It was cute. He mumbled quietly, almost too quietly, “Ray.”

“It’s nice to meet you Ray,” Ryan smiled, his nose scrunching up and his ears perking, fangs bared. Ray only stared at all those teeth before Ryan remembered and closed his lips over his smile. “You’re gonna stay here with us for a while, okay? We’ll take care of you.”

Ray’s face turned skeptical before he sat up a little more, his ears behind his head but slowly perking back up. He smiled, showing all his little teeth too, “I… think I’d like that!”

o0o

Jack was now missing a few flight feathers and had a bruise forming on his sour face, but Geoff stood in front of the boys, trying to hold back snickers and giggles, stifling them as much as possible.

“You brought this one on yourself, Jack, really. You could have just left him up there to come down when he wanted, but you got a foot to the face and a gazelle dropped on you.” Geoff was still trying not to laugh.

Michael was behind one leg, nubby little horns and ears, his tongue sticking out at him. Gavin was behind the other leg, one hand fisted in Geoff’s pant leg, the other in the back of Michael’s shirt. His spines were stood up, on cheeks and through his fine hair, only because the crash had startled him and he hadn’t quite calmed yet.

A long drawn out sigh before Jack let his wings droop a little, tucking them up against his back. He snuck past Geoff and the boys, Michael huffing at him as he did and called back, “I’m going to start dinner. Flag me if you need me.”

Geoff shook his head, always amused by Jack when he got huffy. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, the poor owl got so flustered. He pet both the boy’s heads, urging them gently, “Come on, Ryan’s home.”

Wide eyes and little gasps before they tore through the house, calling Ryan’s name.

At all the whooping and hollering, Ray shrunk back, watching with wide eyes. Ryan tried to put a hand up to reassure him but wasn’t able to before he was ambushed by a little hedgehog and a gazelle, the gazelle first though, so proud of how fast he could run. Ryan laughed, letting them scale him like a jungle gym like always. He yipped when Gavin stepped on his tail though, but shook it off quickly.

Once they were on his back and smiling, they spotted Ray on the couch. Michael’s eyes narrowed and his ears flicked back again before he huffed, “Who’s he?”

Ryan worried away at his lip for a moment before gesturing, “This, is Ray. He’ll be staying with us for a while.”

Ray watched them both, wary and hesitant, as was his nature. Gavin smiled, puffing out his spines. The display made Ray smile too, puffing up his own cheeks, though it wasn’t nearly as effective. The age difference between the lads helped ease Ray a little. Michael was still unsure, but when he climbed over Ryan’s shoulder, nearly planting a foot in the fox’s face and settled in to look him over, pulling an ear out, and pawing at his muddy clothes he rolled his eyes, “I _guess_ he can stay.”

With a smile, Ray wrapped his arms around Michael’s neck, happy to be able to have a place that was slowly feeling safe! He’d been alone for a while, cold and lost. But maybe… Maybe it was going to be okay.

It was only made better by Gavin clambering up onto the couch with them, settling in for snuggles. Ryan couldn’t help his smile either, glad to see all the people he helped were happy.

The moment was only interrupted by a call from the kitchen.

“Ryan? Can you come set the table? Make sure to set a place for our new guest!”


End file.
